Footsteps on the Stairs
by sermerlin
Summary: Ginny waited, she waited 5 and a half years for Harry, she could wait 2 more months. First H/G fic. It's sort of sweet, witht the sad moments. Pics up on where DH book left. Before 19 years later Summary sucks...


_I'm sure this is full with stupid mistakes, _

_so I would very much appreciate it if you could let me know if_

_something's wrong. It isn't beta-read yet, since my sushi_

_is on a well earned holiday :)_

_So please let me know if you find something that confuses you!_

_X Emma_

Ginny rolled on her back, swearing she could hear_ the_ footsteps on the stairs. Muffled, but there.

She´d waited to hear those foot steps for 2 months now, and every night she could have sworn they were there.

But every night her door had remained closed.

He said he would come back for her. He´d sworn it. And Ginny believed it.

He'd just gone away, and she hadn't heard anything of him since.

She knew her mom and dad were talking about what she was so afraid of. The D-word.

But Ginny knew he couldn't be, she would have felt it, she would have known.

A tear rolled down her cheek. You would have thought the tears would have stopped by now. That she hadn't anymore left, no more energy to cry. But here they were again.

So she rolled back on her side, telling herself that she had imagined it _again._

Ginny started to shake uncontrollable, she was used to it by now, this was sort of her nightly ritual.

And again she tried to remember the happy days of their life together.

Their time at Hogwarts, the times they played Quidditch at the pitch behind their house, the Quidditch practices at Hogwarts, their first kiss, their second kiss, the little kisses, the long kisses.

The lounging at the common room, making fun on Ron, the kisses at the secret passages, the stolen kisses between classes.

The kiss in this very room, the kiss to try and make him aware of how much she loved him. How much she would miss him if he'd gone out to do whatever he had to do.

And then the last memory would come. The memory of him telling her he'd had to go, again.

* * *

><p><em>''Ginny.'' she heard him say softly.<em>

_''I missed you, Ginny.'' he whispered._

_Ginny turned to see him standing there. Scratches covering his whole body, cuts near his scar. His hair gray with dust. Still twigs in his hair of the Forbidden Forrest._

_''Harry...'' Ginny replied as softly. She walked towards him, and took his hands in hers._

_''I missed you too. I thought, I thought...'' Ginny couldn't get it out. Not with Fred gone._

_''I know, I thought too...'' Harry too didn't finish the sentence, but they both knew what the other meant._

_''Ginny, I'm really, really sorry about what happened, you know... To everybody, to Fred, Tonks, Lupin.''_

_Tears blurred Ginny's sight._

_''Nobody blames you, Harry. Nothing was certain this night. Life or death. You know that, Fred, Tonks & Lupin went down fighting, they made a difference. I'm sure that if they knew they would die, they'd go down fighting.''_

_Harry nodded, he started to shake. Ginny hugged him tightly, trying to give him some sort of comfort._

_''I think it's better if you'd go and try to get some sleep, Harry. I'm sure you didn't get much of it the last couple of months.''_

_Harry shook his head. ''No, I can't, I tried. But I had to go find you first, I just needed you.''_

_Ginny hugged him even closer, taking in the smell of dirt, leaves and blood. Ginny took a step back, taking in the man she loved, discovering new cuts on hi face. _

_''How about a shower? That would make you feel better, and then you will get some sleep, please. I know this might sound weird, but you're a mess.''_

_A small smile crossed Harry's face. ''I thought I looked quite handsome... Isn't this the new look for the season?''_

_Ginny chuckled. ''Sorry, I think you're a bit behind. Clean guys are totally hot now.''_

_Harry's face looked serious again. ''Will you stay with me, tonight? Please stay with me, I just want to hold you. I never want to lose you again, never. I wanna fall asleep holding you, and I wanna wake up with you there.''_

_Ginny nodded slowly._

_''Go take a shower first, I'll go and ask the elves if they have a pair of clean pajamas for us both. I'll see you in the boys dormitory, OK?_

_Harry nodded and turned to the stairs. He had done a few steps before turning again, walking towards Ginny, and kissed her softly on the lips, slowly but passionately. He drew back, resting his forehead against hers, eyes closed._

_''I love you, Ginny Weasley. I love you so much.''_

_With that he'd walked away, off to take a shower._

_Ginny woke up the next day, feeling the weight of an arm around her waist. She must have fallen asleep before Harry was done, he'd crept in with her. _

_Softly she touched the arm, feeling the hairs on it, soft little hairs. _

_Ginny turned, careful not to wake Harry. She stared at him, his face looked so at peace when he was asleep. No pain that could be seen in his eyes, only the cuts were evidence of his past life._

_The bruises were starting to show too, one on his cheekbone, another on his forehead. His chin was black and blue. She touched all of the cuts on his face, softly, wanting to heal them._

_She counted 11 cuts; 4 big ones and 6 small ones. There were 5 big bruises too. _

_Ginny put her free hand on Harry's chest, there it was, keeping the man she loved alive, his heart. _

_''Morning.'' she heard him say._

_''Did I wake you?'' she asked_

_''Hmm...''_

_It was silent for a minute or two._

_''Gin?''_

_''Yeah?''_

_''I have this thing I've got to do, I can't stay, for now...''_

_Ginny thought for a moment._

_''What do you have to do?''_

_Harry sighed._

_''I've got to go and find the Dursleys, even though they hate me, I need to explain everything to them. And even though Dudley has been an ass to me, before I left the house last July, he showed me some sort of, I don't know. Family bond?''_

_''That's all you have to do?''_

_''Sort of. I want to visit my parents grave again, visit the house. I want to try and get to know some more stuff about them.''_

_''Okay...''_

_Ginny propped herself up on one elbow, wanting to see Harry's face._

_''Promise me you'll come back, though. Promise me that, Harry, I need to know, I need to know if you come back.''_

_Harry sat up to, his face now on the same level as Ginny's._

_''I promise Ginny, I promise that. I meant what I said last night, I love you, and nothing could keep me away from you anymore. But this is just something I need to do.''_

_Ginny nodded. _

_Harry tried to get out of bed, but Ginny stopped him._

_''Could you stay just a little longer? I haven't slept this good in a long while, just another 30 minutes or so.''_

_''Of course we can. I wouldn't want it any other way.''_

_Harry got back into bed and Ginny nestled herself on his chest._

_Minutes past before Ginny opened her mouth again._

_''Harry?''_

_''Hmm?''_

_''I love you too.''_

* * *

><p>Ginny's eyelids fluttered, she wanted to go to sleep, but she was sure she heard something, or someone outside her door. But she thought that every night, so this was probably again her imagination playing tricks on her again.<p>

She turned once more, closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

She was halfway through her happy memories when she sat up.

This time she was sure, and she wanted to make sure that was not her imagination too.

Ginny heard someone shuffling outside her door. It could be Ron of course, or George... Or her mom or dad, but something told her it wasn't one of her family members.

She walked slowly to her door, grabbing her wand of her desk on the way. You could never be sure, Voldemort might be dead, but there are still people out there who follow his lead, even though this house is still under the protection of almost any protective spell you can imagine, there could always be something wrong...

Ginny got to her door, she took a deep breath and opened it with a swing, ready to curse or to block any spell.

Her eyes needed some time to adjust to the darker space outside her bedroom, but she knew it was OK, there was nothing bad in the house, and when she finally could see properly, she knew.

She knew who this dark shape was. In a few steps she was at his side, hugging him tightly, she felt his arms around her waist, she felt him burying his face in her hair, and she did the same with his neck, breathing his scent. No longer blood, dirt and leaves, but a clean, strawberry shampoo smell. His aftershave filling her nostrils. She hugged him even closer, not wanting to let him go.

Her hands were on his back, feeling his muscles through the thin shirt he was wearing.

She suddenly realised any member of her family could decide to take a midnight walk, and so she let go of him. She didn't want anyone of her family discovering him, not yet. She wanted him to herself for a while; she would share him, but not yet.

''Come.'' she whispered.

Ginny took him by the hand and led him to her room, to her bed. She sat him down, and she sat on his lap, not caring about how tired he might be, all she wanted to do was sit on his lap, in his arms.

He hugged his arms tightly around her body, making sure she wouldn't go anywhere either. Ginny knew it, he missed her.

''You missed me, eh?'' she whispered.

Harry chuckled. ''You can tell?''

''Hmm... I can tell by the way you wrap your arms around me, it's the same way I want to wrap my arms around you. Make a cage, so you can never escape again, never leave me again, not for this long.''

Harry kissed her neck. ''You're absolutely right, I missed you, I missed you so much it made me want to come here, every night I wanted to apparate here and hold you in my arms.'' Harry sighed and held Ginny even closer.

''And every night I forced myself to keep going, because I knew, that if I'd come here, I'd never go back and do the things I needed to, because I'd never want to let you go, ever again. I'd want to make you smaller, and put you in a box, so I can carry you around with me always.''

Ginny kissed his lips, she kissed his nose, she kissed his cheeks and she kissed his eyes.

''Ginny, I-'' Ginny put a finger in Harry's lips.

''Shh, less talking more kissing.'' Ginny showered his face with little butterfly kisses, making sure no part was left out.

''Don't you think we should talk?'' Harry asked, less focused by the trail of kisses Ginny made to his chest.

''Nope, talking can wait, we've got a whole life time ahead of us.''

Ginny took one of Harry's arms and started kissing that one.

''First, I wanna make sure...'' Kisses everywhere. ''That my man is real, and not some silly daydream of mine.''

Ginny looked up, eyes leveling with Harry's.

''Because, in the past six months, I've had much crazier daydreams then these.'' Ginny said softly, trying to not let Harry see the pain she's been in.

Harry chuckled softly. ''This would be the best dream I've ever had.'' he said, loving the way Ginny's body seemed to fit perfectly in his arms.

Ginny smiled, and went on:

''But none of the dreams have been as good. Because you are real this time, I know it, I can taste your skin, I can feel it, I can feel your arms safely wrapped around me. I can see your eyes.''

Ginny wrapped her fingers in his hair. ''I can feel your hair, I can feel how soft it is.''

Her face was inches from Harry's now. ''And I know, after this kiss, that it's real, cause I can feel your lips brushing against mine.''

And she kissed him, as if her life depended on it. Her walls came crashing down, all of the pain of not seeing him all these months, not knowing where he was, came out in this one kiss.

Fingers wrapped in his hair made it possible for her to pull him in even closer, making the kiss even more passionate.

Ginny broke away for some air. Harry was the one trailing butterfly kisses all over her skin now.

''I've waited for you, for so long now. I need you in my life. I want you in my life. These past couple of months have been hell for me. Don't you ever leave me again, Harry. I love you.''

She stopped his kisses by cupping his face and making him look into her eyes.

''Don't you ever let go of me again, because I sure ain't letting go of you.''

And letting go they did not.

**A/N  
><strong>I do not own Harry Potter, unfortunately, I don't have these great idea, luckily J.K. Rowling did.

This is also my first Harry/Ginny, hope you like! Hours to write, minutes to review! Please :)!

**Update**

Thanks to Stephanie O for helping me out with the mistakes I made :)! Thank you so much! :)


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